It’s been a busy few weeks out here on the farm, as we prepare for spring livestock. The first to come will be 150 Delkab Amberlink chicks, which will add to our laying flock this fall. Keith and I have been spending evenings and weekends building cozy brooders for the babies. We don’t have a barn here, so we designed weatherproof, stand-alone houses to be used as brooders. These could even double as a pasture pen for larger chickens; when the weather is nice the sides can come off to let the sunshine in.

A hen tries out the partially-constructed brooder

The day-old chicks arrive next week, straight from Ohio via the U.S. Postal Service. I will go pick them up at the Post Office and show them to their new homes. Once they are settled in, and we make any necessary adjustments to the brooder design, I’ll post plans here for anyone who is interested in copying the design for their own farm.

(Edit May 7, 2010: Plans are now posted here with a pictoral guide and here as a PDF file)

Hauling the brooders out to the pasture

There is nothing more satisfying than accomplishing a big project after a lot of hard work, many late nights, and dozens of strong cups of coffee.

I am wondering what was the deciding on factor on the walls height of the brooder huts. My other question is I see you have them pulled out to pasture. How are you providing electric to the heat lamps? I am baffled by that and have been trying to accomplish something like you have.

We recently decided to change the plans for the brooders to use 2 ft walls. That makes more sense because you can cut a sheet of plywood in half and make 2 walls out of it. In regards to your second question, we run extension cords to the brooders from the house. Our brooders are actually right behind our house, in a grassy area. We use deep bedding and don’t move the brooders from place to place. The only reason they are “portable”/floorless is because we don’t have outbuildings to use for brooding, this design is inexpensive and they are easy to pick up with a front end loader for cleaning out the bedding at the end of the season